Karnataka’s fact-checking unit will need Centre’s assistance: State IT minister Priyank Kharge

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

fact-checking unit will need assistance from the central government to act on misinformation or disinformation that originates from outside its own or the country’s jurisdiction, the state’s information technology minister Priyank Kharge said.
“If there is misinformation originating outside India in some eastern European country, for example, we have no control over it. We will then write to the central government saying this is what we have been able to evaluate, so please help,” Kharge told ET during a trip to Delhi to promote the Bangalore Tech Summit (from November 29 to December 1).

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The ambit of the proposed Information Disorder Tackling Unit (IDTU) will however, not be limited to fact-check misinformation, disinformation or fake news that is likely to cause disturbance in communal harmony, he said.
Explaining the role of the proposed unit, Kharge said that there were reports that discredited government plans and schemes, and they needed to be fact-checked in order to ensure that the correct information reached the desired beneficiary. He cited the example of the state’s initiative to offer free bus rides for women.
“An incident from Andhra Pradesh where a woman had lost her hand in an accident and was left bleeding on the road was shown to be from Karnataka, claiming that she lost her balance trying to enter a bus that provided free service,” he said.
Misinformation of this kind impacts governance, law and order